Distorts at high volume levels on deep bass. Not an outdoor-friendly design.

Bottom Line

The Creative Stage Air is a solid portable Bluetooth speaker that looks like a soundbar and fits perfectly in front of your computer monitor.

Shaped like a mini soundbar, the $49.99 Creative Stage Air differs from most of the wireless speakers we review. It's not rugged, waterproof, or even very small, and while it's portable, it's mean to sit below your computer monitor. Not only does it stream via Bluetooth, but it has a standard 3.5mm aux port, and even an outdated-but-harmless USB input that will play MP3s from a thumb drive. Anyone expecting mega-bass or even super-loud volume might be disappointed, but the Stage Air delivers a solid audio experience for the price.

Design

Measuring 2.8 by 16.0 by 3.0 inches (HWD), the Stage Air has a glossy plastic exterior, with a front-facing perforated grille covering dual full-range drivers and a passive bass radiator. There's also a status LED behind the grille that lets you know when the speaker is powered up or paired.

Four buttons on the right control power, Bluetooth pairing, volume, and track navigation. The back panel houses the connections—there's a micro USB port for charging (a USB cable is included), a 3.5mm aux input for direct connection to computers or mobile devices (a cable is included), and a USB port for playing MP3s. Yes, this feature does seem like it's caught in a time warp, but it can also be completely ignored—and if you happen to have a thumb drive with MP3 files on it, Creative has your back.

Setup instructions are included on the Stage Air's product page on the Creative website. Note that a firmware update will change the battery-saving auto-off function so that it kicks in after six hours instead of 10 minutes. If you like the idea of the speaker shutting off after 10 minutes of inactivity, however, don't upgrade the firmware. Regardless, after the speaker powers down, it will auto-pair with your in-range device upon powering back up.

The Stage Air gets roughly six hours of battery life according to Creative. That's a relatively modest figure, and it can be lower depending on your volume levels. But considering this speaker isn't likely to be packed in a bag or taken on a camping trip, six hours seems reasonable—it'll likely be used indoors, where it can be recharged easily when needed.

Performance

The Stage Air is small for a soundbar, but large for a portable Bluetooth speaker—from a size perspective, it's hard to know what to expect from its audio performance when you look at it. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Stage Air delivers respectable bass depth for the price. At high volumes, the track distorts, which isn't too surprising—the speaker delivers the audio cleanly at roughly 75 percent volume levels, though. It isn't for anyone seeking booming bass response, but there is a decent richness here.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Stage Air's general sound signature. The drums on this track can sound thunderous through bass-heavy speaker systems, but here they sound more like polite tapping. It's Callahan's baritone vocals that get the bulk of the bass presence, while the acoustic guitar strums and higher register percussive hits possess a solid brightness. The low-mids seem to be pumped up a bit, giving the vocals perhaps more richness than they need, and this does occasionally give the drums some heft, but nothing like we hear through bass-forward systems. Generally speaking, this is a low-mids-boosted affair, with plenty of crisp high frequency presence to match.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives an ideal amount of high-mid presence, allowing the attack to retain its sharp, punchy edge. The vinyl crackle and hiss that's usually relegated to background status also comes forward in the mix some here, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with a decent-enough bass presence, but again, nothing like you'd hear from a subwoofer. And for the price, you shouldn't be expecting subwoofer bass depth—the sound here is crisp and clean, with some nice added heft in the lows and low-mids, but nothing that will blow the minds of those seeking a big bass sound.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound reasonably balanced—the lower register instrumentation gets a solid presence, but the mix seems far more mids- and highs-focused than anything else. This is not a bass-boosted experience, which is usually not what classical listeners are seeking anyway, but at times, tracks like these can seem a little thin in the lows, making them sound a bit too bright, or lacking in body.

Conclusions

Ultimately, the Creative Stage Air feels a bit like a niche product—we don't test too many mini soundbars intended for computers (and also armed with Bluetooth), so it's hard to pinpoint who this is for. If you're looking for excellent Bluetooth speakers in this price range, we're fans of the outdoor-friendly JBL Clip 3, the more home-focused, Alexa-friendly Amazon Echo Dot, and the Anker Soundcore Flare. For more money, but still less than $100, the Ikea Eneby (12-Inch) sounds worlds better. But these options are all quite different from the Stage Air—and each other.

For the price, the Stage Air delivers solid audio quality, and if you truly want a soundbar under your computer monitor, it's one of the few we've tested. As long as you don't expect it to sound like a powerful, TV-sized soundbar, the Stage Air is a solid, wallet-friendly investment for a computer setup—or as a Bluetooth speaker that mobile devices can stream to.

Creative Stage Air

Creative Stage Air

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